WP: GOP Will Showcase Bush's Leadership

[kskiska]

Sunday, August 29, 2004; Page A01

NEW YORK, Aug. 28 -- Buoyed by signs that an embattled President Bush has gained ground in the past two weeks, Republicans began gathering Saturday for a national convention designed to highlight Bush's leadership on terrorism, sketch out themes for a second term and continue a months-long effort to discredit Democratic nominee John F. Kerry.

Republican strategists said they want to use the convention to begin to neutralize public dissatisfaction over Iraq and the economy, which has put Bush's reelection at risk, by shifting voters' focus from their qualms about the state of the country, which Kerry has exploited, to a choice between a president who will portray himself as steady and consistent vs. a challenger whom GOP speakers plan to hammer as the opposite.

(snip)

A top Bush adviser, asking not to be identified in order to talk about strategy, said the president and others will challenge Kerry on his contention that only he would work cooperatively with other nations. "Do you think this campaign is going to be about one guy who says I'm going to go it alone and one guy who says I can bring other countries together? No," the adviser said. Instead, he said, Bush will cast the choice as one between someone who has put different coalitions together "and another who says we've got to make France and Germany come with us."

(snip)

"The sense here is that we're going into the convention a bit stronger than we thought," a senior administration official said. "We're kind of going in where we thought we would come out . But there's no euphoria. This is still a dead-even race, and it probably will stay that way right to the end."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42519-2004Aug28.html

[soothsayer]

1. Enjoy your circle jerk, boys, this is the end for you

Can't wait to vote your asses out!

[daveskilt]

2. leadership????? hahahahahahahahaa

he couldn't organize an orgy in a brothel.

[madmax]

3. What leadership!?

Someone please tell me one good thing bush did in the last 4 years.

[klook]

8. Come on, give the guy a break

Bush has plenty to brag about.

George W. Bush Presidential Accomplishments (First Term)

1. Ignored gathering Al Qaeda threat, and U.S. got attacked as a result. (His greatest accomplishment and the centerpiece of his re-election campaign.)
   
2. Achieved the greatest redistribution of wealth since the 1920s. Rewarded our nation's hard-working Mores and Have Mores with lavish tax cuts, at the expense of everyone else. Trickle-Down Economics says that the rich will stimulate the economy by continuing to trickle on the rest of us.
   
3. Gave Iraqis their freedom. It's not our fault that they've turned out to be such ingrates, and that the Liberal Media (TM) didn't show all the pictures of them throwing flowers at our tanks when we first liberated them.
   
4. Removed the evil dictator and diabolical, cave-dwelling dialysis patient Saddam bin Laden and/or Osama Hussein from power.
   
5. In a bold first step toward the Ownership Society, created federal mandate "No Child Left Behind" and then yanked $27 billion in funding for the program. As a result, Americans are no longer relying on the Federal government as much, and lifting themselves up by their bootstraps.
   

More great accomplishments to come in the second term!!

[okoboji]

4. they truely believe...

that bush can lead.....

Forget the fact that he can't speak without a script
Forget the fact that he can't ride a bicycle without falling off
Forget the fact that his dad has had to bail him out of every project he has touched.

The man sat for 7 minutes with a blank look on his face not knowing what to do after they told him about the trade center attacks.

yea ... some leadership


these people better wake up

[FloridaPat]

5. You forgot - he can't eat pretzels either.

[Booster]

6. Now look what you've done. We're all going to have

to watch now since none of us have a clue what leadership skills Dumbo has. Think they'll actually show how he lead on 9/11 - God, that would be worth watching; Bush sitting there with his thumb up his ass and all the delegates oohing and ahing over their man. Gonna throw up now.

[kskiska]

7. …someone who has put different coalitions together?

Yeah. Getting Eritrea, Kazakhstan, and Palau to work together was quite a feat.

[LiberalFighter]

17. What about North Korea, Iran, Iraq?

Russia, Germany, France?

[struggle4progress]

24. And not everybody could claim the Solomon Islands ...

But Bush did!

For Immediate Release
March 21, 2003
Coalition Members

<snip>
Forty-eight countries are publicly committed to the Coalition, including:

Afghanistan
Albania
Angola
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bulgaria
Colombia
Costa Rica
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Georgia
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Japan
Kuwait
Latvia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Marshall Islands
Micronesia
Mongolia
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Palau
Panama
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Rwanda
Singapore
Slovakia
Solomon Islands
South Korea
Spain
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
Uzbekistan
<snip>

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030321-4.html


Unfortunately, they weren't too happy about it ...


Coalition of the Willing? Not us, say Solomon islanders
27.03.2003
By ALAN PERROTT

Sorry, President Bush, but if you are counting on the Solomon Islands National Reconnaissance and Surveillance Force to watch your back in Iraq, you're out of luck.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Sir Allan Kemakeza yesterday said "thanks but no thanks" after hearing his nation had been shanghaied into the US-led Coalition of the Willing.
<snip>

The Coalition of the Willing also claims the backing of more than a dozen silent partners - countries which are providing assistance but do not wish to broadcast the fact widely for fear of domestic reaction.
<snip>

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3300727&thesection=news&thesubsection=world

[TahitiNut]

9. What will they do for the other 3.5 days?

A carpenter could build that 'showcase' from a used dollhouse commode.

[fob]

20. My thought almost exactly. I was gonna say "After that 5 minutes then

what?"

[TankLV]

10. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!

Oh, you mean they're SERIOUS?!

[Norquist Nemesis]

11. Leader of incompetent ideologues is more like it. Well,

birds of a feather.

[0007]

12. Action speaks louder than words

Who are they trying to convince the Eric Rudolph crowd?

[Old and In the Way]

13. I hope they show Bush in action on 9/11.

The full 7 minutes and glimpses of him heading down the hidey holes.

[gumby]

14. 7 minutes plus

all those minutes for the photo-ops after that.

Isn't that 20 minutes or something like that?

It's really 7+20.

[glitch]

28. double plus

considering he knew about the first plane hitting before he went into the classroom -- remember he'd been warned a month before of Al Queda planning a terrorist attack inside the US.
The only person in the world who actually claims to have thought "That's one lousy pilot" and then laugh about it.

[Edgewater_Joe]

15. So The RNC's Running A Keystone Kops Film Festival Instead of The RNC?

Didn't think you could do that ...

[Massacure]

16. Go ahead, change the focus

Kerry will still hammer the those issues. If Bush ignores it, Kerry will call him on it.

[renotyme]

18. an empty showcase doesnt impress much

although a shaved ape in the whitehouse is a freakshow in its own league.

[newyawker99]

25. Hi renotyme!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[aaronbees]

19. his leadership has been defined as ...

leading us to the cliff and daring us to jump with him.
In any case, there's no way they win with this meme, so let's see 'em try.

[newyawker99]

26. Hi aaronbees!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[aaronbees]

27. thanks for the welcome

hello and thanks for the big DU greeting :):toast:

[Erika]

21. Where was Bush and his bros and Cheney during Nam?

When leadership counted.

[DeepModem Mom]

22. WP Rove-sourced story: leadership -- NYT, same source, W Shapes Tactics

Oh, the spin that must be spun to portray this completely inadequate imposter as not only "engaged," but a LEADER! If that's the message, I'd wonder if Madison Square Garden is in danger of spinning so wildly it takes off above NYC like Auntie Em's house and ends up in the Land of Oz --

[flordehinojos]

23. Yeah, they really ought to. Then, his true zero leadership persona will

shine out to the world.}(

[are_we_united_yet]

29. Well it's about time